


Get a Handle On It

by mousapelli



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bokuto Koutarou & Kuroo Tetsurou are Bros, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-17 22:50:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7289224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mousapelli/pseuds/mousapelli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroo wants to find out what Tsukishima's deal is, and Bokuto is a surprisingly good wingman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Get a Handle On It

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a prompt fill for 2016 SASO: prompt was the manga panel where Bokuto is giving Kuroo the thumbs-up for getting Tsukishima to do free practice with them.

"Karasuno, huh?" Bokuto asks. "What were they like? They're no good, right?"

Kuroo considers, staring up at the ceiling above his bed, phone on speaker and cradled loosely on his stomach. It's necessary since Bokuto's shouting fits are unpredictable. "A little no good, yeah. But interesting. I want to play them again."

"Eh?" Bokuto sounds puzzled, and Kuroo doesn't blame him. The match was three days ago and he's still puzzling it over. 

"Kenma made friends with this complete first year shrimp."

"He did what?" Bokuto laughs. "Don't fuck with me, he did not."

"Been texting him couple times a day ever since. Sometimes he almost smiles." Kuroo pauses to let Bokuto stop cackling in disbelief. "There was this other guy too, a middle blocker."

"Good?" 

"Not really. Not bad either, tall, but just…uninspired. Bleached hair but nerd glasses. Seemed smart, but…not exactly lazy, but…I'm not sure what. Something."

"Cruuuuuuuuush," Bokuto coos at him. 

"What? No!" Kuroo rolls his eyes. "He was just…interesting."

"You keep pausing in weird places when you talk about him," Bokuto goes on laughing, until Kuroo says shut his face, whatever. He talks about the match instead, about that weird quick, their libero, everything. How they were so bad but slippery, too hard to get a handle on. 

"Man, I want to play these weirdoes too!" Bokuto whines. "They sound fun!"

"They're hard up for practice matches," Kuroo says thoughtfully. "You know, Nekomata said they used to come to training camp when Ukai—well, the other Ukai—was still coach."

"We should ask them to come!" Bokuto exclaims immediately, and Kuroo grins to himself. He'd been hoping Bokuto would say exactly that, since it is called the Fukurodani Group after all. If Bokuto bugs his captain, and Nekomata puts in a good word as well, Kuroo might get a whole week to try and figure out what Glasses-kun's deal is. 

Not that he needs to know what Glasses-kun's deal is. Because it's not a crush. It's just…curiosity. 

"Dammit, I do keep pausing in weird places," Kuroo grumbles to himself. 

Once Karasuno accepts the invitation to join the group training camp, Bokuto teases Kuroo about it every time they talk. Kuroo mostly just rolls his eyes, but when Karasuno actually arrives and Mr. Tall, Blond, and Exasperated climbs off the bus, Bokuto blinks several times. 

"Oh shit, bro, he's cute," Bokuto says. "I take back all the chirping, you have to hit that."

"Bo, shut up," Kuroo says, glancing around to make sure nobody heard how creepy Bokuto just made the situation sound. 

He keeps an eye on Tsukishima for the day, which isn't hard to do or suspicious since everybody is watching the newcomers. Several times he has to smother a laugh at the abject failure of the new things those crows are trying, but he overhears more than one conversation that day about how they're 'hard to deal with' or 'strange.' It's satisfying to hear his own assessment repeated, and Kuroo finds himself hoping this camp is part of the solution for Karasuno's race against time. 

Tsukishima's problem is equally obvious, which is that he isn't practiced enough and doesn't have a good blocking mentor on the team, plus he isn't interested in looking uncool long enough to fix it himself even if he did know how. Kuroo's hands itch with the urge to fix the problem. With his height and brains, that jerk could be _so good_. 

"Oho?" Bokuto asks when Kuroo is loitering around the door of Gymnasium 3 at the start of free practice. Tsukishima won't have any choice but to come this way on his way to dinner, and there's pretty much no chance that guy will hang around for free practice of his own. Kuroo's trying to look casual, but Bokuto tracks his gaze easily, out into the darkness broken up by the orange circles of the overhead lights. "Gonna pounce when he comes by?"

Kuroo doesn't even bother to deny it. "I'm a cat, after all. Ah, here he comes." He ignores Bokuto's snickering and leans out the doorway just a little further, far enough to catch Tsukishima's eye and make a cat's paw 'come here' motion. 

"I'm already done for the day, so please excuse me," Tsukishima says, obviously about to speed up. Kuroo's opening his mouth to argue, but Bokuto leans in and says it's stupid to practice spikes without blockers, y'know, come on, be a pal. 

Akaashi gets in on it too with his logic (he gives Kuroo a sideways glance and Kuroo thinks, shit, does everybody know?), but Kuroo doesn't think that tactic will work on Tsukishima any better than Bokuto's overbearing new friend act. As a semi-professional provocateur, Kuroo's pretty sure he's got the clincher. 

"Also, if you're a middle blocker, shouldn't you practice blocking a little more?" he asks, and yup, Tsukishima's jaw clenches in annoyance. He gives Kuroo a narrow look, then pushes past the both of them and into the gym. Kuroo feels pretty self-satisfied until Bokuto flashes him a thumbs-up, and then Kuroo remembers _oh wait, I actually am the creepy captain._

Not that it stops him. Riling up Tsukishima is just too much fun to resist.


End file.
